Israeli Police are investigating the grisly murder of a man whose decapitated head was found in northern Israel on Thursday.
The victim, 43-year-old Rabia Araidi, was the son of the late Naim Araidi, a noted Druze author and scholar who also served as Israel’s ambassador to Norway from 2012-2014. Rabia’s head was discovered near the entrance to a school in the Bedouin town of Basmat Tab’un while the rest of his body was found in his hometown of Maghar, a Druze village.
Police believe the murder relates to a conflict between two criminal organizations.
According to the Abraham Initiative, a non-profit organization that promotes Arab integration into Israeli society, 93 Israeli-Arabs have been killed in violent criminal incidents in 2024. Police have solved only 12 of those cases.
In 2023, a record number of 244 Israeli-Arabs were murdered, more than double the 120 homicides in 2022.
The spike in violence is attributed to organized crime groups fighting turf battles and trying to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, and trafficking in weapons, drugs and women.
